Altered Carbon

In the 25th century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a person's consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or "sleeve") making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen.

Thirteen

Marsalis is one of a new breed...literally. Genetically engineered by the U.S. government to embody the naked aggression and primal survival skills that centuries of civilization have erased from humankind, Thirteens were intended to be the ultimate military fighting force. The project was scuttled, however, when a fearful public branded the supersoldiers dangerous mutants, dooming the Thirteens to forced exile on Earth's distant, desolate Mars colony. But Marsalis found a way to slip back.

The Steel Remains

In just a few short years, Richard K. Morgan has vaulted to the pinnacle of the science fiction world. Now he turns his iconoclastic talents to epic fantasy, crafting a darkly violent, tautly plotted adventure sure to thrill old fans and captivate new readers.

We Are Legion (We Are Bob): Bobiverse, Book 1

Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street. Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets.

The Reality Dysfunction: Night's Dawn Trilogy, Book 1

In AD 2600, the human race is finally beginning to realize its full potential. Hundreds of colonized planets scattered across the galaxy host a multitude of prosperous and wildly diverse cultures. Genetic engineering has pushed evolution far beyond nature's boundaries, defeating disease and producing extraordinary spaceborn creatures. Huge fleets of sentient trader starships thrive on the wealth created by the industrialization of entire star systems, and throughout inhabited space the Confederation Navy keeps the peace.

Market Forces

What do you buy and sell when the global markets reach saturation point? The markets themselves. Thirty years from now the big players in global capitalism have moved on from commodities. The big money is in conflict investment. The corporations keep a careful watch on the wars of liberation and revolution that burn constantly around the world. They guage who the winners will be and sell them arms, intelligence, and power. In return for a slice of the action when the war is won.

Neuromancer

Twenty years ago, it was as if someone turned on a light. The future blazed into existence with each deliberate word that William Gibson laid down. The winner of Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards, Neuromancer didn't just explode onto the science fiction scene - it permeated into the collective consciousness, culture, science, and technology.Today, there is only one science fiction masterpiece to thank for the term "cyberpunk," for easing the way into the information age and Internet society.

A Night Without Stars: A Novel of the Commonwealth: Chronicle of the Fallers Series, Book 2

The planet is isolated from the rest of the universe, unable to seek help as it's targeted by hostile aliens. Bienvenido's ruling authorities have slowly responded to this gradual infiltration, but they have no idea that a highly organized invasion is now under way, designed to wipe out all human life on the planet. All factions must work together to survive. Unfortunately, due to prejudice against enhanced Eliter humans and crippling technophobia, the parochial government won't collaborate.

The Naked God: Night's Dawn Trilogy, Book 3

Quinn Dexter is loose on Earth, destroying the giant arcologies one at a time. As Louise Kavanagh tries to track him down, she manages to acquire some strange and powerful allies whose goal doesn't quite match her own. The campaign to liberate Mortonridge from the possessed degenerates into a horrendous land battle, the kind that hasn't been seen by humankind for 600 years; then some of the protagonists escape in a very unexpected direction.

Babylon's Ashes: The Expanse, Book 6

The Free Navy - a violent group of Belters in black-market military ships - has crippled the Earth and begun a campaign of piracy and violence among the outer planets. The colony ships heading for the thousand new worlds on the far side of the alien ring gates are easy prey, and no single navy remains strong enough to protect them. James Holden and his crew know the strengths and weaknesses of this new force better than anyone.

Snow Crash

Neal Stephenson is a blazing new force on the sci-fi scene. With the groundbreaking cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, he has "vaulted onto the literary stage." It weaves virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility - in short, it is the gigathriller of the information age.

The Neutronium Alchemist: The Night's Dawn Trilogy, Book 2

The ancient menace has finally escaped from Lalonde, shattering the Confederation's peaceful existence. Those who succumbed to it have acquired godlike powers but now follow a far-from-divine gospel as they advance inexorably from world to world. On planets and asteroids, individuals battle for survival against the strange and brutal forces unleashed upon the universe.

Seveneves: A Novel

A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.

Steel World: Undying Mercenaries, Book 1

In the 20th century Earth sent probes, transmissions, and welcoming messages to the stars. Unfortunately, someone noticed. The Galactics arrived with their battle fleet in 2052. Rather than being exterminated under a barrage of hell-burners, Earth joined their vast Empire. Swearing allegiance to our distant alien overlords wasn't the only requirement for survival. We also had to have something of value to trade, something that neighboring planets would pay their hard-earned credits to buy. As most of the local worlds were too civilized to have a proper army, the only valuable service Earth could provide came in the form of soldiers....

Old Man's War

John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First, he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army. The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce - and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So, we fight, to defend Earth and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.

All Tomorrow's Parties

Rydell is on his way back to near-future San Francisco. His job has him convinced that his career is going nowhere, but his friend Laney, phoning from Tokyo, says there's more interesting work for him in Northern California. And there is, although it will eventually involve his former girlfriend, a Taoist assassin, the secrets Laney has been hacking out of the depths of DatAmerica, the CEO of the PR firm that secretly runs the world and the apocalyptic technological transformation of, well, everything.

Accelerando

The Singularity. It is the era of the posthuman. Artificial intelligences have surpassed the limits of human intellect. Biotechnological beings have rendered people all but extinct. Molecular nanotechnology runs rampant, replicating and reprogramming at will. Contact with extraterrestrial life grows more imminent with each new day.

Hardwired

Ex-fighter pilot Cowboy, "hardwired" via skull sockets directly to his lethal electronic hardware, teams up with Sarah, an equally cyborized gun-for-hire, to make a last stab at independence from the rapacious Orbitals.

Consider Phlebas

The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it....

Red Rising

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children. But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet.

Revelation Space

Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself. With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason.

The Nightmare Stacks: Laundry Files, Book 7

After stumbling upon the algorithm that turned him and his fellow merchant bankers into vampires, Alex Schwartz was drafted by The Laundry, Britain's secret counter-occult agency that's humanity's first line of defense against the forces of darkness. Dependent on his new employers for his continued existence - as Alex has no stomach for predatory bloodsucking - he has little choice but to accept his new role as an operative in training.

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits

In a prosperous yet gruesomely violent near future, superhero vigilantes battle thugs whose heads are full of supervillain fantasies. The peace is kept by a team of smooth, well-dressed negotiators called The Men in Fancy Suits. Meanwhile a young girl is caught in the middle and thinks the whole thing is ridiculous. Zoey, a recent college graduate with a worthless degree, makes a reluctant trip into the city after hearing that her estranged con artist father died in a mysterious yet spectacular way.

Hyperion

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.

Publisher's Summary

Cynical, quick-on-the-trigger Takeshi Kovacs, the ex-U.N. envoy turned private eye, has changed careers, and bodies, once more, trading sleuthing for soldiering as a warrior-for-hire and helping a far-flung planet's government put down a bloody revolution.

But when it comes to taking sides, the only one Kovacs is ever really on is his own. So when a rogue pilot and a sleazy corporate fat cat offer him a lucrative role in a treacherous treasure hunt, he's only too happy to go AWOL with a band of resurrected soldiers of fortune. All that stands between them and the ancient alien spacecraft they mean to salvage are a massacred city bathed in deadly radiation, unleashed nanotechnolgy with a million ways to kill, and whatever surprises the highly advanced Martian race may have in store. But armed with his genetically engineered instincts, and his trusty twin Kalashnikovs, Takeshi is ready to take on anything...and let the devil take whoever's left behind.

I like Jack Reacher style characters regardless of setting. Put them in outer space, in modern America, in a military setting, on an alien planet... no worries. Book has non moralistic vigilante-justice? Sign me up!
(oh, I read urban fantasy, soft and hard sci-fi, trashy vampire and zombie novels too)

I also listened to Altered Carbon (first book in the series). This one is slightly better in some way - it seems more smooth or something, less time spent explaining the backdrop perhaps. The story is independent of the first book so you don't have to read them in order (but Altered Carbon is good enough that you should anyway)

Same narrator as the first book and he is terrific! Probably one of the best readers I've heard: his women's voices don't sound absurd, and you can tell who's talking from his intonation.

It is graphic, with detailed (and very long) sex scenes which are gratuitous in nature - i.e. they don't advance the plot in any significant way. I'm not a prude and I don't mind listening to sex, but be forewarned that it is adult in nature, a.k.a pornographic, no two ways about it. I would have taken off a star for this but it's such a good story otherwise and there's always a fast forward button.

And, of course, it is violent and gory and has a dim view of the value of human life...

The first in this series, Altered Carbon, was all the rage a few years back. It was a gritty, hard-boiled detective story set in the 25th century, complete with pithy first person narration by sardonic tough guy male protagonist. The universe is a little reminiscent of the one in the movie Blade Runner, with powerful corporations that run everything and crime syndicates and rebel groups in the shadows. The most notable technological feature of this reality is the ability to back human consciousness up on a "cortical stack" implant, allowing people to "resleeve" in a new body if the old one gets excessively damaged. The implications of this made for some interesting twists, both in terms of plot and human themes.

In this novel, a loose sequel to Altered Carbon, Takeshi Kovacs has put aside the detective work and is back to his former trade of soldiering. He's serving as a mercenary on behalf of a corporate power battling rebel fanatics on a planet whose civilian populace is receiving the brunt of the misery and suffering. He's feeling about ready to jump ship on his contract when a pilot points Kovacs to a xenoarchaeologist in a prison camp, who knows something about a gateway leading to an ancient, derelict alien starship -- the find of the century. Can he put together a team to stake legal claim?

As with many sequels to hot first novels, the dazzle factor of the author’s style and universe has worn off a little, and this reader notices the formula a little more. For those who liked the grit, hard-boiled cynicism, manga-like universe, over-the-top sex scenes, and action movie machismo of Altered Carbon, Broken Angels brings more of that, but the characters and plot are more familiar and forgettable. While the part surrounding the entering of the long-dead ghost ship, the high point of the book, has a cool eeriness similar to the opening of the movie Alien and its own horror to deliver about the fate of a superior civilization, the story leading up this point isn’t hugely riveting. Yes, the sequences about locating a corporate backer (without being screwed over by the same), recruiting a squad of soldiers from the colorful personalities found in a pile of discarded cortical stacks, battling nanobots, and discovering what became of a previous expedition to the alien ship, were a pleasant audio distraction while I was doing yard work, a lot of other science fiction novels could have done as much. The war going on in the background had potential to be interesting, but wasn’t fleshed out much -- I suspect it will come more into play in the next book.

All in all, this is a recommendation for those who loved Altered Carbon and want to go further into the Takeshi Kovacs universe, but other readers could probably take it or leave it. Audiobook reader Todd McLaren has a square-jawed voice that suits the hard-boiled nature of Morgan's prose well and keeps it from coming across as too self-serious, but his sultry-voiced women can be a little irritating. Particularly the "sassy black girl" voice.

Richard Morgan is a fun read/listen for any hard tech scifi lover. Period. He just gets it. He's into the moment, wherever you are in this great audiobook, and you can feel it. He's brought warfare, technology, moral crises, hard action, plots within plots, backstabbing, subterfuge, turn-on-a-dime plot direction, and so much more to this novel. From Voodoo tech dealers, to mega corp nanotech battles, to virtual playgrounds, to bionic enhancements that offer virtual immortality, to gigantic alien ark ships, you, dear reader, are going to be busy in a great way.

Remember, if you like the soft gentle scifi writings of early Heinlein or Norton, this won't quite be your cup of tea.

Otherwise, jump in, pull the bar close to your chest, keep your arms in the car at all times - You're in for a wild ride!

Not quite as good as Altered Carbon but almost so. The element of surprise at the world Morgan created was missing, but I was happy with how it felt comfortable and familiar to return to Kovacs world. Cyber noir or cyber punk--whichever it is, I certainly had a fun listen here and wouldn't hesitate to get the third book in the series, "Woken Furies".

In this book, mercenary-for-hire, ex Envoy special agent Takeshi Kovacs has left Earth after his noir detective stint and proffered his talents to an elite paramilitary private contracting unit. He's serving in an engagement off-world when he gets an offer to lead a very dangerous and very secret archaeological expedition in the war-torn region to recover advanced, ancient alien relics.

Bottom line - if you liked the first novel, you'll like this one as well.

I ordered both this title and Altered Carbon based on the reviews. The first one was okay, but it seemed rather long and it never really developed for me. The narration was top-notch, but I just never got engrossed in the storyline. If I had not already gotten Broken Angels, I might have given it a pass. However, since I had it already, I decided to give it a chance. I'm so glad I did. This story was much more engaging. Altered Carbon was more of a detective story, albeit in a Science Fiction setting. This time around, it's more of a SciFi/action story. It seemed to help that Takashi had a large supporting cast to interact with this time out as well.

Unlike what others have said, I don't feel it is necessary to listen to Altered Carbon first. This book stands on it's own and other than a couple of references to the previous book, there are no ties storywise. There are more references in both books to other events in the character's past that are not (yet) contained in another book, that you'll be hard-pressed to identify the Altered Carbon references if you aren't already familiar with it. In short, you won't be at a disadvantage nor less likely to enjoy this book if you haven't read/listened to Altered Carbon.

Can't believe it's only his 2nd novel. I enjoyed Altered Carbon but had a hard time following or really getting engaged with the characters. This sequel has a much different feel although Kovach is still central...different sleeve and still sorta Mickey Spillanesque but with some light and warmth in the darkness. You do NOT have to read the first one to appreciate this sequel, but it may jump start you on some of the concepts. The throw-away sidebar ideas are an ideational feast...wish someone would flesh many of them out into full stories. This guy is scary. Can't wait to see what happens when the Martians and/or the real badass aliens come into focus. He creates a fantastic but very coherent world which begs many philosop[hical questions. But more importantly, it's a fast-moving, engaging and fun read...with several interesting twists. I'm ready for volume 3.

I loved Altered Carbon's take on sci-fi noir, and the way that it explored the stack system (where people's minds can be transferred to different bodies. Broken Angels ditches the noir/mystery feel, doesn't do much with the concept of stacks, and instead goes for an ultra-violent military thriller with a little "Alien" thrown in. The story didn't make a lot of sense to me, and I got turned off by the frequent graphic sex and violence. Granted, Altered Carbon also had a lot of sex and violence, but at least it was held together with a good story. Also, Kovacs, who was a bit of an anti-hero in "Altered Carbon" comes off as pretty much unlikeable in this.

Will definitely like if you liked the first book "Altered Carbon" nicely narrated. Gritty and Hard nosed characters and plot development. May offend some in its crudeness of action and settings, but would not expect a Harlequin romantic comedy reader to even glance at this book. Definitely a good listen for the appropriate audience.